Diversity (continued)

Internal Efforts

1. Continue to provide resources and incentives to those who promote and enhance diversity. Each laboratory should continue to set aside funding at the beginning of the fiscal year to engage in activities to support and increase diversity. Additionally, the NCAR Director’s Office and UCAR President’s Office should provide funds for such purposes. These funds will be awarded competitively and may be part of, or in addition to, programs conducted to build and sustain partnerships with MSIs.

UCAR’s performance evaluation process should recognize and acknowledge employees who demonstrate a commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce. A section in UCAR’s Annual Performance Appraisal currently documents diversity-enhancing activities, and diversity efforts should be added to UCAR’s Outstanding Accomplishment awards. Contributions to increasing diversity should also be explicitly included in the criteria for scientist/research engineer promotion.

2. Monitor progress toward diversity goals. Hiring supervisors need to be educated on market availability for jobs where there has been persistent underutilization, and the qualified applicant pool should routinely be evaluated to assess recruitment and selection effectiveness. This is especially important in job categories that enhance our opportunities to diversify the workforce (e.g., engineering, computer science, administration).

Management should address institutional practices that reflect bias and conduct regular assessments to ensure that all practices are equitable. External and internal audits can help identify unfair practices.

We must continue to measure progress and fully communicate metrics to managers and staff with the goal of correcting underutilization or inequitable practices.

3. Develop strategies to leverage diversity. NCAR should create continued opportunities for dialog with diverse staff. Such dialog should focus on both the unique needs of NCAR’s minority staff and the unique skills and attributes that they bring to the workplace. The Asian Listening Circle is a model of this process and should be repeated for other affinity groups.5

5 The Asian Listening Group made specific suggestions that can be implemented including a) building awareness of cultural differences regarding assertiveness, b) providing technical writing resources for those whose first language is not English, c) providing mentors to those who request guidance, and d) helping NCAR identify and adopt practices and ideas from Asian cultures that could improve NCAR’s operation. The success of this program has led to the initiation of a listening group for staff with disabilities.